KUCHING: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Tan Sri Dr James Masing attributed the party’s victory in the May 5 general election to “noble reasons and sound political objectives”.

He opined that politics and political fights must be based on sound political ideologies and objectives, and PRS had adhered to this principle.

“The victors of electoral fights are normally those who fought for noble reasons and with sound political objectives, and we, in PRS, stuck to that principle which enabled our (party) to win,” he said at PRS 13th general election victory dinner at KTS Garden on Friday.

PRS won all six seats – Sri Aman, Lubok Antu, Kanowit, Julau, Selangau and Hulu Rajang – it contested in the polls.

Taking a swipe at Sarawak Workers Party (SWP), Masing, who is also Land Development Minister, said PRS was neither fighting based on anger, personal vendettas nor revenge.

“We (PRS) fight because we have a good cause to fight … we want to contest because we have abilities to lead this nation to a better future, and that dream of a better future for this country must be above our personal interests.

“We should not contest just because we want to be ahli YB (elected representatives) or continue to contest simply because we still want to be in power.”

Masing remarked that the recently concluded election was one of the toughest elections he had ever experienced, and perhaps the hardest for PRS in its eight years of existence.He said the party was challenged by three opponents in Pakatan Rakyat, Independents and SWP.While Pakatan was a well organised political entity with very clear aims and objectives, Masing said the party also had to face an independent candidate who went around saying that he was not contesting against BN but only to fight against a BN candidate.

SWP’s objective, he added, was to annihilate PRS.Masing noted that the tussle with SWP caught the attention of the media and the people, and so-called political experts also jumped into the circus by erroneously predicting the demise of PRS in the hands of SWP.He stressed that the people should treasure the prevailing peace and harmony which had been designed by the nation’s forefathers through careful planning and through the rule of law.“Until and unless we learn to be grateful and respect the rule of law, we will not be respected by the very people we fight to rule and administer.”

KUALA LUMPUR; Speculation runs high that the Barisan Nasional (BN) will unveil its candidates for the 13th general election tomorrow even as the Election Commission meets to decide the polling and nomination dates.Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who is BN chairman, will meet coalition representatives again at the Putra World Trade Centre in the morning to shore up the BN election machinery and has scheduled a press conference after that.Najib, who is spearheading the BN charge for the first time after taking over as prime minister four years ago, has indicated that he would name the candidates early and there would be surprises.

The much awaited announcement, if true, comes exactly a week after he dissolved the Dewan Rakyat and last Saturday, he launched BN’s manifesto, promising to continue his work of transforming the nation and the lives of all Malaysians.

He reiterated the message in Ipoh when he spent the day and had lunch with representatives of Perak non-governmental organisations at the Tow Boh Keong Temple hall after performing the ground-breaking ceremony for the RM400 million locomotive manufacturing plant belonging to China-based CSR Group. “The best is yet to come. We have delivered so much. With a strong mandate, we can even do better in the future. I promise you that,” he said at the luncheon.

“I have asked myself what else the Chinese want? They want security, they want harmony. What else do they want? They want a government that is fair and just.”Najib said all these would be fulfilled if BN was given a bigger mandate in the coming polls.International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said today that BN’s promise to bring in RM1.3 trillion in investments over the next five years, as envisaged in its manifesto, was realistic.Umno Wanita head and former federal minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said she would not be running while Cabinet member, Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui, who is Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) president, confirmed he would give way to a new face after serving the Miri parliamentary constituency for six terms.

Meanwhile, tension has spilled in Johor between opposition partners, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and DAP, over the Johor Jaya Chinese-majority state seat.PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced in Tangkak last night that state party chief Datuk Chua Jui Meng, denied of his ambition to contest the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat, would instead be fielded in Segamat which was contested by the DAP and lost in the 2008 general election.

DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang, who is standing in Gelang Patah, however, today said his bid in Gelang Patah was a stand-alone decision and not in exchange of any parliamentary seat between the two parties, and letting PKR contest in Segamat came with strings attached.

DAP’s agreement to relinquish Segamat was contingent on the settlement of “all DAP-PKR disputes on all seat allocations in Johor” with DAP contesting seven parliamentary seats and 15 state seats including Johor Jaya, said Lim.

“With Anwar’s announcement, it can be taken that the contingent conditions for the DAP’s agreement to let PKR contest in the Segamat parliamentary seat has been agreed upon by the PKR leadership,” he said on his blog.Lim has already named Dapsy assistant publicity secretary Liow Cai Tun for Johor Jaya while Johor PKR had announced its legal bureau chief Jimmy Puah for the state seat which was contested in 2008 by Parti Rakyat Malaysia.

DAP and PKR are also at loggerheads over another state seat in Johor, Pengkalan Rinting.Like DAP and PKR, PAS also continued to release the names of its candidates in spurts, naming eight parliamentary candidates today including three expected new faces.They are former federal CID chief Datuk Fauzi Shaari for Larut in Perak, architect Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad for Kuala Terengganu and songstress Wan Aishah Wan Ariffin for Jempol in Negeri Sembilan.

Deputy president Mohamed Sabu who was beaten in Kuala Terengganu in 2008 will now contest in Pendang, Kedah, while vice-president Datuk Husam Musa and Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub will move out of Kelantan to Putrajaya and Pulai in Johor respectively.PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang will defend his Marang seat in Terengganu while 82-year-old Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the party’s spiritual leader, will stand for a fifth term in Cempaka, Kelantan.

In Kedah, disgruntled members of opposition parties who were not picked as candidates declared they would contest as independents.Former state PKR Youth chief Zamil Ibrahim said he had collected 10 nomination forms and the group comprising individuals from PKR, PAS and DAP would form a pact soon and contest under one logo.

KUCHING: Exploitation of religious issues will not make any headway
in the state during the general election because its multi-racial
community has always lived in religious harmony, said Natural Resources
and Environment Minister Dato Sri Douglas Uggah Embas.

“The
opposition tried to exploit religious issues in the 2011 state election.
As you can see, the impact on the rural population was minimal for the
obvious reasons that the people in rural Sarawak feel that they are
living in religious harmony.“We accept that there are problems
but we adopt a policy of discussion. With that type of discussions,
religious issues will not jeopardise the unity of this country,” he told
reporters after presenting a RM400,000 mock-cheque to All Saints’
Church (ASC) at Tabuan here yesterday.

Also present were Deputy
Works Minister Datuk Yong Khoon Seng, Reverend Nelson Sinken – the
priest in charge of ASC, venerable canon Reverend Nelson Ugas and SUPP
Batu Lintang chairman Sih Hua Tong.
Uggah, who is also a member of
the special Cabinet Committee on Sabah-Sarawak, pointed out that the
federal aid was approved about a month before the dissolution of the
Parliament on April 4.He said in the past three years, about RM5
million in aid had been approved by the government for 12 churches
throughout the state including St Thomas Cathedral which received RM2
million.

ASC is expanding its main congregation hall and other
facilities and the project, estimated at RM300,000, is scheduled to be
completed by Christmas this year.The RM300,000 does not include
budget for a car park and other surrounding amenities. Upon completion,
the church will increase its capacity to about 1,000 from its current
capacity of 200.
ASC serves the people of Tabuan Dayak, Tabuan, Jalan Song and Stutong.